Scientists have discovered a new corona-related coronavirus in bats in Southeast Asia

LONDON, Feb. 9 (Xinhua Zhang Jiawei) -- A research team said in a paper published in the British journal Nature Communications that they have found a coronavirus associated with the new coronavirus in bats in a wildlife sanctuary in eastern Thailand, but the study has not been able to lock in the origin and intermediate host of the new coronavirus.
a coronavirus surveillance survey conducted by researchers from the Duke-Singapore National University School of Medicine and others. In an artificial cave at a wildlife refuge in eastern Thailand, they found a coronavirus in five large horned chrysanthemum manta rays. The researchers named the coronavirus RacCS203.
analysis showed that the virus had a genomic similarity of 91.5% to the new coronavirus, which is also closely related to the bat coronavirus RmYN02, which was previously found in China. In addition, researchers detected new coronavirus-in-the-middle antibodies in bats in this part of Thailand and in a manicure at a wildlife checkpoint in the south of the country.
researchers say this provides evidence for the spread of the new coronavirus-related coronavirus in Southeast Asia, but the sample size and sampling area of the study are limited. They believe that bats in many asian countries and regions are heavily present in the coronavirus-related coronavirus, although the latest findings do not lock in the origin of the new coronavirus, but still help to expand the detection of the new coronavirus close-up virus.